First General Assembly of the Skills4EOSC Competence Centres Network: A New Chapter Begins

On 24 July 2025, the Skills4EOSC Competence Centres Network held its first General Assembly, marking the beginning of a new phase in the effort to sustain and expand the project’s outcomes beyond its formal conclusion.

During this inaugural meeting, the Network confirmed its commitment to maintaining and updating the Skills4EOSC results, including the Minimum Viable Skillsets (MVS), the FAIR-by-Design methodology, and the training resources developed within the project.

One of the key outcomes of the meeting was the appointment of ICDI – the Italian Competence Centre – as the first presiding institution. With its strong track record in coordination, community building, and Open Science training, ICDI will lead the Network’s activities over the next year. Sara Di Giorgio (ICDI) was nominated as Chair of the General Assembly.

The meeting also endorsed a governance model based on voluntary contributions, with two levels of membership (Letter of Intent and Memorandum of Understanding) and a distributed operational structure. A dedicated Editorial Board will be formed to take care of content curation and evolution, while task-based Working Groups will be launched in the coming months to explore specific topics such as synergies with EOSC nodes, sustainability strategies, and new collaborations.

A checkpoint-based roadmap was approved, outlining the next steps for the Network, from infrastructure transition and community engagement to funding strategy development and long-term sustainability assessment.

The strong consensus among the participating Competence Centres reflects a shared vision for continued collaboration and impact, ensuring that the Skills4EOSC legacy continues to support Open Science training and capacity-building efforts across Europe and associated countries.